On the 28th January 1986, the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. All seven members of crew were killed, which led to NASA suspending all space shuttle missions for over two and a half years.

The Challenger mission had three key objectives. Firstly, it was to deploy a satellite that was part of a system that enables NASA and other US government agencies to communicate. Secondly, they were to deploy the SPARTAN-203 satellite to observe Haley’s Comet. Finally, on board Challenger was the first teacher from ...